US survey: 1 in 5 telecommuters work an hour or less a day
Almost one in five Americans who work from home only clock in for an hour or less a day, according to a survey, while a third stay in their pyjamas.
Forty per cent of telecommuters say they work between four and seven hours, 17 per cent are doing the bare minimum and just 35 per cent are working eight or more hours, the CareerBuilder survey of 5,299 people revealed.
As bad as that sounds, it’s much better than it was in 2007, when only 18 per cent were able to manage eight hours or more.
» via The Register
Interesting stats for telecommuters like myself. I will say though some days are much busier than others. And while I am on the clock for a set period, work carries over into my nights and weekends often.
“[S]omething interesting has happened in the last few years. While people are still playing a ton of video games, 40 percent of all Xbox activity now is non-game. Put another way, we’re seeing an average of 30 hours of video consumption per month per Xbox, a number that is growing fast. And people are expecting more – more options, more games, more videos, more entertainment.
The vision for Xbox is straightforward: All of the entertainment you want. With the people you care about. Made easy. That is why you’ve seen us invest in partnerships with ESPN, Netflix and Hulu. That is why we’ve baked social directly into the experience with Xbox LIVE – connecting gamers, friends and families across the globe. That is why you’ll see Xbox marketed more as an entertainment brand this year. And that is why we’re investing so much in Natural User Interface technologies (speech, touch, gestures) to make the entertainment experience that much easier-and more fun. With Kinect, we’ve made NUI real for millions of people, and we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible.
Frank X. Shaw, VP Corporate Communications Xbox
I’ve long believed in Xbox Live as another powerful social network along the lines of Facebook, but even more strong due to the shared experience by engaging with and playing a videogame with your friends (as opposed to posting to a friends wall, you’re accomplishing a goal together).
What I’ve been dreaming for some time, and what I hope Shaw implies when he speaks of Xbox as an entertainment brand, is an entertainment experience that is socially absorbed to the point where it’s as though you are chilling with your friends in your basement whenever you want.
While Xbox Live already involves this kind of experience playing and communicating with friends over chat and headset playing videogames, I hope the company applies this social involvement to their entertainment partnerships. This is to say, ultimately, watching movies, shows, sports, etc. with friends and family across the world.
While this already exists in the streaming sites like Justin.tv and Livestream, and in a smaller capacity with apps like GetGlue and IntoNow, Xbox can truly bring this technology and culture beyond the tipping point and I really hope it does.
Beyonce - Who Run the World (Girls) Live at Billboard Music Awards
This is NUTS! Watch.
This technically doesn’t belong on this tumblr, content-wise, but there is tech involved and, hey, whateva I do what I want.
The ‘Runaway’ performance at the VMAs was pretty spectacular, but Beyonce bossed up big time here. Eat your heart out, Kanye! These projection visuals are outta this world. #SWAG!
(Source: youtube.com)
![thedailywhat:
Poetry 2.0 of the Day: Sherman Alexie: “The Facebook Sonnet.”
[peterwknox / ratsoff.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ll5srv3PnV1qz6t0vo1_400.jpg)
Poetry 2.0 of the Day: Sherman Alexie: “The Facebook Sonnet.”
[peterwknox / ratsoff.]
QR Code Resume - Would you hire this guy?
The design graphically looks fantastic. I wish there was sound or subtitles to what he actually says in the phone video.
(mashable)
Gawker’s Adrian Chen explaining how Rebecca Black’s rise to fame further legitimizes virality as a vehicle for stardom. (techcrunch)
Author Alexia Tsostis makes a great point comparing Black’s path to fame to Justin Bieber’s, the white swan to Bieber’s black:
Justin Bieber and Rebecca Black are two sides of the same Internet fame coin: Black is like the anti-Justin Bieber, her “Friday” video has all the trappings of pop star gloss, with none of the talent.
Bieber on the other hand, had the talent, and enthralled fans with that despite the rawness of his homemad YouTube music videos (nice Simpsons poster Justin), which he posted before putting out a more polished album and becoming the online and mainstream fame tornado that he is today.
26 Year Old Makes a Fortune Self-publishing on Kindle
Here’s an inspiring story making the rounds across the net: #1 best-selling indie writer, 26 year old Amanda Hocking has made a fortune self publishing her books on Kindle.
As an indie author she has no publishing deal, meaning she gets to keep 70% of her book sales, which are estimated around 100,000 copies a month at $1-$3 per book. With prices this low, she undercuts the bigger titles and captures impulse buyers, making more on volume, in addition to having zero printing costs.
So far this all sounds pretty sweet, so what sets her apart from other aspiring indie writers putting her at #1? It must be her stellar writing? An innovative marketing strategy? The answers surprised me:
RE: Stellar writing, here’s the description for Switched, the first in her Trylle Trilogy:
When Wendy Everly was six years old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn’t until eleven years later that Wendy discovers her mother might have been right.
With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed - a world both beautiful and frightening, and Wendy’s not sure she wants to be a part of it.
Reading an excerpt from Switched, I wouldn’t say stellar writing alone is what put Hockings at #1. It is, however, entertaining for a particular Twilight/YA paranormal romance demographic.
RE: Marketing strategy, here’s an excerpt from an interview with HuffPost writer Tonya Plank:
TP: What has been your strategy for marketing and publicizing your books?
AH: I didn’t really have a strategy. I think one of the advantages I have is that stuff considered marketing is stuff that I do a lot anyway. I’ve been active on social networks and blogs for years.
I also send ARCs [advance review copies] out to book bloggers. Book bloggers are a really amazing community, and they’ve been tremendously supportive. They’ve definitely been a major force that got my books on the map.When I first published, I did do a bit of promoting on the Amazon forums, but they’re not really open to that, so I haven’t really interacted there much at all in months. I hang out Goodreads, Kindleboards, Facebook, Twitter, and I blog. And that’s about it.
As a digital native, she doesn’t consider her daily routine (nurturing online relationships, self-promoting across social networks and niche communities to build buzz/pull/word of mouth about her product) as marketing strategy proper, but it’s key in landing her at the #1 spot.
This isn’t to say this all happened for her over night; she didn’t just decide to write a book, push it on Facebook, Twitter, blog and watch the money pile up. I must mention Amanda’s been trying to get published for around 8 years prior to her self-publishing success. During this time she read and wrote constantly, while building her network and communities.
Amanda Hockling’s success involves the perfect mix of technology (Kindle, democratizing publishing, allowing indie authors to thrive), culture (Hocking’s YA paranormal content timed perfectly to capture Twilight fandom), and society (people promote, consume, share across social networks). Although I can’t say I’m into her material, I admire her hustle, and passion and wish her sustained success.
Members of the opposition took over a goverment office building in Benghazi, Libya. They were gathering photos and videos. (Photo: Ed Ou for the New York Times)
This photo speaks to the role of social media in the events unfolding across the Middle East and North Africa — and why tyrants are so very afraid of the Internet.
